


like a final puzzle piece

by stxvetony



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, M/M, Not A Fix-It, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-26 10:43:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19004152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stxvetony/pseuds/stxvetony
Summary: What you seek lies in front of you, as does what you fear. In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. In everlasting exchange, a soul for a soul.or steve and tony go to vormir. only one comes back.





	like a final puzzle piece

_ What you seek lies in front of you, as does what you fear. In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. In everlasting exchange, a soul for a soul.  _

 

Steve and Tony stood there, watching each other, the purple life reflecting across their face, projecting the pain, the heartbreak that would most certainly follow afterwards. 

 

The two of them were sent to gain the soul stone, a stone in which required a sacrifice. It wasn’t something that was spoken up, but the two of them knew who it would be, at least, they each thought it should be themselves. 

 

For Steve, it was the betrayal, all the hurt he had caused Tony throughout the year, that justified his decision. For someone who had spent his whole entire life striving to be a good man, someone who seeked to live up to the mantle of Captain America, he felt like he failed with Tony. And for once, he wanted to, he  _ needed to _ do something right, rewrite all his wrongdoings, at least to some part. Because Steve didn’t think he could ever even believe to forgive himself, if he couldn’t save Tony, if after everything that had happened, he couldn’t at least ensure that Tony would have a happy ending in the end.

 

For Tony, it was his nature and love that spurred him forward, the desire for self sacrifice in the name of everyone who was relying on him. He was sure that his life would wasn't worth it after all, and if he could do something, do  _ anything _ , to prevent his family from suffering, god, he would take it in a heartbeat. He was tired, and he would be okay if he died. And Steve, the man, the one standing in front of him, looking at him like he was the last person left on earth, he would be able to live, because he would have people to live for. 

 

“I guess we both know who it should be right?” Steve smiled wistfully off to the side. 

 

Tony looked back at him, at this man who had broke his heart, but still managed to grasp it in his hand all these years, who grounded him, held him together, after all this time. A love so tragic, so beautiful, one that threatened to swallow him whole, one that could never just be, could never flourish,  but one that he would gladly lay down his life for. 

 

“Maybe we have different thoughts of who it should be.” 

 

“Maybe.”

 

“Steve - I’m” 

 

Steve reached forward to clasp his hands with Tony, leaning forward slightly. “I know Tony, I know. But it should be me. After all these years, all this time where I spent regretting my actions, where I spent this time wondering what could be, I - Tony I don’t have anyone anymore. This is finally my chance to make a difference, to prove I was worth fighting for.”

 

Tony choked, a tear rolling down his face, his forehead coming to rest against Steve, the contact searing throughout his body, the warmth spreading despite the chilly air around them. “Steve. You’re always gonna be worth fighting for, no matter what, and that’s why I can’t let you do this, I can’t just let you put your life down for nothing, when you have so much left for. It’s for the best, when I don’t have anything.”

 

“What about Morgan? What about Peter? What about Pepper and Rhodey? What about me?”

 

“What about Bucky or Sam then? What about the rest of everyone, who needs you to lead them, to guide them? Steve, I can’t, I don’t think I would, I couldn’t ever forgive myself if I let you do this. It’s why I need it to be me.”

 

Tony slipped out of Steve’s grasp, inching closer to the ledge, where he looked down at the abyss below. And oddly, he wasn't scared, he just felt peaceful staring down at it, at his not his downfall, but the chance for him to start anew, to erase all the wrongdoings he had caused, all his deaths and failures. 

 

When he looked back at Steve, at his eyes, so full of hurt and regret, he smiled sadly, for Steve could now be happy, uplifted from the burden of the two of them constantly being tied down around each other, from the animosity that still was present no matter how many times they forgave each other. 

 

_ It was a chance to let both of them be free, to finally let go of each other.  _

 

Tony’s foot slipped, before he stepped off the cliff. Steve’s eyes snapped up, and before his brain could even catch up with what his feet were doing, he had grabbed Tony up, keeping him from falling while grabbing a ledge towards the top. 

 

Tony looked up at Steve, at the person who was larger than life, who had saved him, but also destroyed him, while he looked down, somehow knowing that Steve would have done this, tried to prevent him from this sacrifice. But for Tony, it wasn’t a sacrifice anymore, it was simply a step into the next stage of his life. 

 

“Steve, let me go. It’s gonna be okay.”

 

Steve shook his head sobbing from above him. “I can’t, Tony. I can’t just let you slip away and sacrifice yourself, knowing I could have been the one instead, knowing I could have done more.”

 

Tony looked back, shaking his head. “It’s not a sacrifice anymore Steve. It’s just me doing what needs to be done. And I would rather it be me, then you, who has so much left.”

 

_ “I just finally know what I have to do. And i know in my heart, that it’s right.” _

 

Steve looked back at him, at his grip on Tony, who looked like he was mere seconds away from jumping into the abyss below, and with a sudden burst of steely resolve encompassing over him, he jumped, his heart aching for Tony, for the man he loved.

 

There was darkness, and then there was nothing at all. 

 

And up above, Tony’s fist clenched, and he closed his eyes, a stray tear falling down his cold cheek.

 

~

 

Tony didn’t remember much after he watched Steve fall down at Vormir. There was a certain sort of numbness growing upon him, covering, getting rid of anything else he might have felt. 

 

Steve’s death wasn’t something that registered in his grief, revenge driven mind, it was just  _ there _ . And perhaps that would have appeared that Tony was cold, unfeeling, that Steve meant nothing to the billionaire, but for Tony, grief wasn’t something that was absolute, wasn’t something that required mountains of tears and a period of depression for him to overcome. Instead, grief ebbed and flowed, something that he never learned to overcome, instead, the grief sitting inside him, overflowing until he one day, he broke. 

 

But for now, Tony was entirely too focused on bringing back the dusted. Because even if Steve was gone, his sacrifice, the one he did for the world,  _ for Tony, _ couldn’t be in vain. _ Tony wouldn’t allow it.  _

 

~

 

It was in his finals moments, after he stared at Thanos, revenge and grief driving his snap, when he was laying down, smiling at everyone who had gathered around him, that he felt peace. He looked back at Pepper, his wife, the one person who could put up with him, who he could love and be together with, and he knew, in that moment, that everyone else, the people he had saved, would all be all right. 

 

“You can rest now. You can be with Steve again.” Pepper whispered to him.

 

And Tony smiled, feeling the darkness creeping around the edge of his eyes, before he closed them, and knew nothing but a strange warmness fulfilling his heart. And a hand grabbing onto him before he faded. 

 

And when he opened his eyes next, all he saw was Steve, and it was like they were back in 2012, in the beginning, where they were both so young, so naive. 

 

And here, it was like everything was anew again. They could be together, just two of them, Steve and Tony. 

 

_ But will you be able to rest? _

 

_ Yes. Eventually, at least. _

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!


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